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Articles · History

Córdoba history: from Roman Corduba to the Caliphate (Page 2)

This collection traces Córdoba from Roman Corduba through Visigothic rule to its zenith as capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, then through Christian conquest and into the modern city. It's for readers who want the events and dates behind the monuments, not just a walking route.

Interior of the Villaviciosa chapel in the Mezquita-Catedral of Córdoba, a pointed Gothic nave in warm light beside the striped Islamic arches, villaviciosa chapel mezquita history 1880

The 1880 Repair That Revealed a Mosque Ceiling and Lost a Mural

Sophie Marchand

How fallen plaster in 1880 led to a Baroque vault's collapse in Córdoba's Villaviciosa chapel, uncovering an Islamic ceiling as a Gothic mural cycle vanished.

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Open-air excavation ground at Cueva del Angel Lucena, a collapsed limestone rock shelter on the Sierra de Aras at golden hour, trench walls and scrub hills beyond

Cueva del Ángel, Lucena: A 'Neanderthal' Site With One Tooth

Sophie Marchand

Cueva del Ángel near Lucena: 46 handaxes, burnt bone and one 104,300-year-old tooth. What the Neanderthal headline rests on, and what to check before visiting.

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Red stone Puente Mayor with four semicircular arches over the Guadalquivir at Montoro in late afternoon light, cordoba province bridge women jewellery funded

Did Women's Jewels Pay for Montoro's Bridge? What Records Say

Sophie Marchand

Montoro's Puente Mayor is famed as the bridge women paid for with jewels. ABC cites a heritage group dating the name to the 1980s; records name the council.

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Spain museum thefts 2026: empty glass display case in a dim archaeological museum gallery, one security light falling on a velvet-lined tray where gold pieces once lay

Spain Museum Thefts: What They Mean for Córdoba

María Fernanda González Updated

Three Spanish museums lost gold in 2026, none in Córdoba. Why thieves want metal that melts, and what looting cases in Córdoba province show about the trade.

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cabra cordoba name origin illustration of a white Andalusian town in hills, with Roman stone fragments, a coin and a parchment bearing abstract marks

Cabra Córdoba Name Origin: Older Than the Goat

Sophie Marchand Updated

Cabra's name runs from ancient Igabrum through Egabrum and Arabic Qabra. The records rule out the poet story and make the goat link a later association.

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AI-generated illustration of an imagined Polyphemus and Galatea mosaic panel mounted on a gallery wall, a visitor beside it for scale, roman mosaics cordoba

Roman Mosaics Córdoba: What the Alcázar Hall Really Shows

Sophie Marchand

The Roman mosaics found under the Plaza de la Corredera are in the Alcázar's Hall of Mosaics. What they show, and what travel blogs claim that sources don't.

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AI-generated illustration for Córdoba women scribes history: a woman copies a Qur'an in Kufic script with a reed pen by latticed window light, while other scribes work out of focus beside a horseshoe-arch doorway.

Córdoba's Eastern Suburb Had 170 Women Copying Qur'ans

Sophie Marchand

One chronicler reported 170 women copying Qur'ans in a single Córdoba suburb. Here is what the sources do and don't say about women in the city's book trade.

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Cordoba treasure British Museum: AI-generated illustration of a silver torc, penannular armlets, a horse-head brooch and scattered Roman and Iberian silver coins on dark cloth under museum lighting

An Andalusian Treasure Has Sat in the British Museum Since 1932

Sophie Marchand

A silver hoard dug up in Córdoba in 1915 left Spain against the law and has been in the British Museum since 1932. Here is how, and what a 2026 study found.

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Lucena Cordoba Jewish history: wooden walkways suspended over excavated medieval graves at the Jewish necropolis of Lucena, soft late-afternoon light, photorealistic

Lucena, Córdoba: The Jewish Town That Governed Itself

Sophie Marchand Updated

Lucena's Jewish community had an elected rabbi, a famous yeshiva and a cemetery found in 2006. What the sources say about its autonomy, and what you can visit.

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Chess history Córdoba illustration: a medieval crystal chess set on a wooden board beside a stone arched window, warm afternoon light, 11th-century Iberian setting

The Count Who Attacked Córdoba and Left Chess Pieces in His Will

Sophie Marchand

A Córdoba court did not smuggle chess into Europe, at least not on paper. The records point to Count Ermengol of Urgell, called el de Córdoba, and his will.

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Torch-lit 15th-century Andalusian village at night, a silent crowd of villagers standing together outside a stone house, photorealistic dramatic reconstruction of the real story behind the 1476 Fuenteovejuna uprising in Córdoba province, Spain

The 1476 Murder Mystery a Whole Village Refused to Solve

Sophie Marchand

In 1476, Córdoba villagers tortured for the truth gave one answer: the town did it. The real story behind Lope de Vega's play is a tax war, not a fairy tale.

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Close-up of Umayyad gold and silver coins from the Córdoba mint, Arabic epigraphic script catching low raking light against dark stone, cordoba umayyad coins mint

Córdoba's Umayyad Mint: How Coins Financed a Caliphate

Sophie Marchand

In 929 Abd al-Rahman III struck Córdoba's first caliphal gold dinar, part of the wider Islamic silver economy whose dirhams reached Viking-age Scandinavia.

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